From Tommy, it’s natto! It’s miso soup! It’s… jangly, power poppy shoegaze!
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[6.50]
Katie Gill: Overly cutesy female vocals are hit or miss for me to begin with, so that was already a point notched off of this song. But then again, I adore that synth riff before the second chorus started up. But is one beautiful synth glissando enough to rate a song highly? But then, that guitar break happens and okay, that’s actually pretty good, certainly better than the vocals that are so deliberately muddled at points I totally mishear things. And so by the time I’m finished thinking about my feelings of the song, it’s already over, finishing out at pretty much two minutes on the nose. I’ll just split the difference and give it a five.
[5]
Alfred Soto: A light swirl of a song in which Michelle Zauner picks at the most surefire of guitar lines hoping to be ingratiating and succeeding. Imagine Wild Animals with lo-fi instincts. The excellently named Sam Cook-Parrott should be louder.
[7]
Tim de Reuse: The pentatonic guitar solo and washed-out synth twinkling are pleasantly airy, but there’s a definite crunch to the guitars and an impulsive lilt to the lyrics (“When you wake up in the morning / Will you give me lots of head?”). The chorus is given an equally ambiguous mood, delivered in a rolling howl somewhere south of joy but north of melancholy. The total effect is of something all properly sunny, singalong-friendly and monstrously catchy, but not overbearingly sweet — in the little details there’s a whole lot of flavor to dig into.
[9]
Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: I like my guitar-based pop songs short and sweet. I also like them with some power, but this one does very little to escape that haze of synths. And the drums seem to be in a hurry, though it’s never clear where they — or the entire song, for that matter — want to go.
[6]
Hannah Jocelyn: Sounds like they’re trying to recreate a Phil Spector production in GarageBand. In fact, the chorus is especially guilty of this, the moment the lo-fi sound feels more like a misguided aesthetic choice rather than a necessity. Like, I hear those synths! I hear that percussion! I’ve heard some other songs on this album! You’re not actually in mono, or on GarageBand! The song gets more annoying the more I hear it, not because of the content, but because of how easily it can be improved: Record some stereo gang vocals! Make some sort of dynamic change! Just mix the other guy higher! Anything! I really do want to love this song, but it’s ultimately too muddy and too short, with too many apparently self-imposed limits, to really make an impact.
[5]
Ramzi Awn: A near-perfect California beach joint from an episode of the “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot. A little less would do a lot more.
[7]